Smaller Races [3.5]

[shadow_archmagi]

Is it just me, or is there a distinct lack of smaller races?

There are hundreds of mediums, dozens and dozens of larges and an abundance of huge races that PCs can take.

Why is it that there are so few Small, and practically no Tiny?

Has anyone EVER heard of a Fine PC?

In This Thread: Discuss why the heck smaller races are so hard to find (other than their mad hide bonuses) and reveal where to find them.

[KillianHawkeye]

I dunno, I think it's because the really small creatures can get a little problematic. For instance, once you get below Small size, you have 0 reach. You can also move past any occupied square without being stopped (unless the AoO stops you somehow).

Really small creatures who fight with weapons have a lot of trouble. They have great Attack Bonus and AC, but 0 reach and crappy weapon damage. On the flip side, Tiny spellcasters get to reap all the rewards of being so small without caring about the drawbacks (except LA), making them even more overpowered.

Plus, Tiny or smaller creatures tend to have cool special abilities and things to make sure they stand a chance against bigger creatures (the Pixie comes to mind), that ends up costing the PC useful levels to make up for.

EDIT: Plus, WotC said themselves that Tiny PCs don't feel very heroic. That's why Halflings are bigger now (in 4e).

[brant167]

I think the main reason is that combat with a tiny or smaller PC is very tedious and brings about a great deal of challenges that would handicap the pc. For one being a Tiny size you would not be able to get a melee attack off without causing a attack of opportunity. Another would be the less damage dice of a weapon you would be wielding. However there are a some unique advantages a Tiny sized creature gets, such as the boost to ac and hide checks. So, it could even out of a caster but as a base melee or ranged type it would be horrible. Usually when a player wants to play a tiny creature in my game I allow them to play a few homebrewed races like a Leprecon. I feel that because they are tiny that their racial abilities should make up for their shortcomings (pun not intended.)

Custom Starting stats

Leprecon
Fey type
Size- Tiny
Str -4 Dex +4 Con -2 Wis +2 Int +2
Dark Vision 60 feet
Base land speed 20
+2 bluff and sense motive
Detect Metal(magically senses all metal in a 60ft radius) 1/day
Daze 3/day (cha based save)

[Pinnacle]

EDIT: Plus, WotC said themselves that Tiny PCs don't feel very heroic. That's why Halflings are bigger now (in 4e).

A Medium guy defeating a massive dragon is heroic, but a smaller person defeating tons of foes far bigger than she is isn't?

[shadow_archmagi]

But... the lower damage dice mean nothing. 2d6, on average, produce 7. That means a total of six damage per attack lost. Six damage isn't hard to make up.

The whole "must enter enemy square" can be countered a number of ways (Tumble? Spiked chain?).

The STR loss is punched away with Weapon Finesse followed by Shadow Blade. (dex to hit and damage, respectively).

And theres something wonderful about the idea of firing a teammate out of a crossbow.

[Gorbash]

A Medium guy defeating a massive dragon is heroic, but a smaller person defeating tons of foes far bigger than she is isn't?

Because medium is the norm. I'm sure that in the world of Pixies, kicking a human's ass is heroic, but not so much in the world of humans.

[erikun]

Gnome wizards have the same AC, same ranged attack bonus, better touch attack bonus, and around twice the HP of an Elf wizard. An even smaller (Tiny) wizard would have even better stats, except perhaps for HP.

<edit>
And tiny rogues don't really worry about the base weapon damage/STR bonus anyways.

[Gorbash]

And just imagine the fun you'll have when a medium (god forbid a large) creature tries to grapple you. You can have as many ranks in escape artist as you want, it won't offset your -8 (or even more in case of larger things) penalty to grapple checks.

[PhallicWarrior]

Because medium is the norm. I'm sure that in the world of Pixies, kicking a human's ass is heroic, but not so much in the world of humans.

NEVER BE NORMAL!

Also, why are there more words in my quote of you than what you said?

I swear, I didn't add anything.

Edit: never mind.

[shadow_archmagi]

it won't offset your -8

I wasn't aware that the -8 entered into escape artist.

[Waspinator]

The biggest problem with very tiny PCs really is spellcasting. Very small, hard to hit wizards with no penalty to their spellcasting for size is a problem.

[I iz dapimp]

Man, screw that whole Ranged attack or spellcaster, I'm making a pixie Barbarian BOOYAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[shadow_archmagi]

Man, screw that whole Ranged attack or spellcaster, I'm making a pixie Barbarian BOOYAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've seen pixie barbarian builds before.

Though of course, they make far better swashbucklers or swordsages.

Truth be told, playing a tiny spellcaster just seems noobish. It feels like "I press the win button."